Bootjack c. 1937

Curator: Looking at this detailed drawing titled "Bootjack," created around 1937 by Salvatore Borrazzo, my immediate impression is one of practicality. It feels very straightforward and utilitarian, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Absolutely, and I think that's precisely the point. It's a study, right? A document. Consider the time this piece was produced, likely amidst the Great Depression. The documentation of everyday objects attains a new level of importance. Curator: Yes, this falls within a specific socio-historical moment. During the New Deal, the government employed artists to document American design and material culture. There’s something very democratic about valorizing the tools used by ordinary people. Editor: And Borrazzo chooses a humble object. The bootjack. Function dictates form here. You see the graphic layout that diagrams the object—underscoring its purpose. Curator: I'm drawn to the execution itself, it is meticulously rendered, which speaks to Borrazzo’s technical skills but also a larger impulse. An almost archival precision elevating an often overlooked artifact of everyday life to a thing worth documenting. Editor: Right. It isn’t simply a functional object—it is part of the narrative of a moment in time. It suggests values like self-sufficiency and making-do amidst a crisis. There's an almost stoic quality to its rendering, what is your insight? Curator: I find it really interesting when thinking about how even simple manufactured items are designed—there are aesthetic choices at play, which, when recorded and replicated, are important markers in social history. The availability of something like this in turn impacts access and accessibility—do all social groups utilize this simple machine? I also appreciate how we see the measurements within this detailed documentation. Editor: And how objects we consider mundane, acquire a weight and significance through historical documentation, altering their perception through time, revealing details to a viewing audience—the materiality, shape, manufacturing process are often all points to the politics and policies. Curator: Indeed. By turning attention towards the details embedded within the manufacturing processes, a bootjack evolves beyond its singular function and embodies cultural and socioeconomic conditions ripe for investigation. Editor: Seeing an item drawn in such a stark style from a particular socio-economic and temporal context has revealed the inherent power dynamics.